This is the final piece on Daylight Savings Time & Smoke Detectors. In this one we ask the final question, just how long is the unit good for aka when should I replace it? While many manufacturers state 10 years (and for newer units a “replace by date” is listed) we recommend every 5 years […]

Yes, for a few reasons. The primary reason for a stand-alone system is to make sure the battery is still alive & the unit is working properly. For interconnected units which will set every unit off, this is to ensure that a mouse or other critter hasn’t done any damage. Most have a simple “test” […]

I am not sure you have caught it yet on the news or around the water cooler, but this Sunday marks the start of Daylight Savings Time (DST.) You can almost be guaranteed a piece on a clock shop & a reminder to change out your smoke detectors batteries. Amazingly most forget to mention your carbon monoxide batteries. With […]

Ahh the dreaded question, just how does one comply with the codes when they conflict with each other? In this case how does one install fire sprinklers, while keeping them in conditioned space so they don’t freeze while ensuring that insulation stays in continuous contact with the air-barrier? Well what happens in most cases is you sweet […]

Below are some quotes from a recent newsletter I get. One reason why I get this newsletter is the gentleman in question has some really great pieces & information that he does provide. Unfortunately in this case, whether it was because of , his never experiencing one, or his just plain not knowing any better […]

I have seen a lot of things in my time, but seeing a gutter downspout in the attic, which was being used as a dryer vent was definitely worth a double take. As you can tell from the pics, there wasn’t too much lint that ever made it out of the “vent.” Now as for […]

This has been a bad year for fires across North America which hasn’t been helped by what many are calling the worst drought in 50 years. As of Friday there have been 5,612 fires in Canada & another 38,436 here in the US. This has resulted in nearly 8.5 million combined acres burned (4.4 US […]

This week for the International Building Safety month the ICC (International Code Council) turns its focus to Fire Safety and Awareness. For this let me just say a simple Amen, as we have seen way to many fires & they are generally caused by an electrical fault or space heater. The worst part is most […]

Ahhh, the bright red fire extinguisher, you can hardly go throughout a day without hardly seeing one; but how much do you know about them, how will you REACT, and why does everyone want you to PASS the extinguisher (don’t they realize you got it)? The 5 Classes & Rating of Extinguishers: There are 5 […]

When we wrote our last Safety Sunday article on campfire and outdoor fire safety, there were 33 large wildfires burning across the US which has since dropped down to 31. Both Alaska & Arizona have dropped down to 3 fires each, while Florida on the other hand has jumped from 5 active fires up to […]

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Random Glossary term

Visible Transmittance (VT) measures just how much natural light comes in through a window and is listed on the NFRC label. It is expressed as a number between 0 and 1 with the higher the VT rating, the more visible light is allowed in. (Also occasionally referred to as VLT or Visible Light Transmittance) For […]